Although the snake spine has morphological regions, functional research into snake vertebral motion typically considers the spine to be homogenous. We used ex vivo XROMM to compare the range of motion of intervertebral joints along the spine of ball pythons, finding nearly indistinguishable ranges of motion despite anatomical differences. 

Two conflicting century-old hypotheses of the origins of the tetrapod pectoral and pelvic girdles remain unresolved: did the paired fins evolve first, or their internal skeletal supports? We are tackling this problem via zebrafish embryology in collaboration with the Yale Zebrafish Research Core, using embryonic lineage tracing to understand pelvis development and evolution. 

I am pursuing my minor project in the Musser Lab in Yale's Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology department, where I am investigating the tempo and mode of the sponge animal's cellular response to water flow conditions. Sponges have unusually plastic morphology and live in diverse water flow environments in nature, so we wanted to see how they react on a cellular level to changes in flow regime. 

We described YPM VP 41198, a new short-snouted "sphenosuchian" from the Late Triassic of New Mexico. This specimen's unusual feeding anatomy demonstrates that ecological specialization occurred early in crocodylomorph evolution. This work is currently in revision for publication. 

My senior thesis combined geometric morphometric data from a range of archosaurs with in vivo XROMM data to understand the functional evolution of the archosaur quadrate. Articulations between the quadrate and surrounding bones showed directional evolutionary trajectories ultimately enabling avian cranial kinesis.